I’d be most interested in detecting hydroperoxides, which is easier than detecting trans fats. I don’t know how soluble a lipid hydroperoxide is in hexane, but isopropanol-hexane mixtures are often used for lipid extracts and would probably work better.
Evaporation could probably be done relatively safely by just leaving the extract at room temperature (I would definitely not advise heating the mixture at all) but you’d need good ventilation, preferably an outdoor space.
I think commercial LCMS/GCMS services are generally available to people in the USA/UK, and these would probably be the gold standard for detecting various hydroperoxides. I wouldn’t trust IR spectroscopy to distinguish the hydroperoxides from other OH-group containing contaminants when you’re working with a system as complicated as a box of french fries.
I agree with this point when it comes to technical discussions. I would like to add the caveat that when talking to a total amateur, the sentence:
Is the fastest way I’ve found to transmit information. Maybe 30% of the entire AI risk case can be delivered in the first four words.